Update: Boy did I blow it! Our "fingerprints" expired last week meaning our criminal background check with the US Embassy is no longer valid. So.....our return will be delayed by at least one week depending on Dana's ability to get her fingerprints processed in Virginia and forwarded to the embassy in Kyiv. Not being a detail oriented person is hazardous when adopting internationally! See you sometime in mid July, I hope!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is our final blog posting from Ukraine. After five weeks in Odessa, the girls and I head to Kyiv Monday night and are scheduled to return home to begin our new lives together on Saturday. It has been an honor to correspond with you. Your loving support, kind words and warm wishes for our family has been surprising and we are more than humbled. You have been a very important part of the "process" and I want to express my sincerest thanks for helping to make this incredible journey so special.
Few things are more annoying than an American who travels abroad and suddenly becomes worldly and cultured. It is tempting to idealize a place you've come to love and I know that some of my postings in the past five weeks describing Odessa and its people may seem overly sentimental and over the top. But Dana and I want our adopted Ukrainian daughters to remember their native country for the enormous good and obvious bad, and hopefully this journal will reappear in a scrapbook that their children and grandchildren will read. The sad truth is that the Ukrainian economy remains more or less a disaster and if it weren't so, we would not be here.
But I ask....
Can a country that builds Opera Houses like this....
Where its poorest and oldest people create such beauty....
And its citizens are so crazy about ice cream...
Where even the stray cats strut in style....
And jaw-dropping scenes like this surround you...
Can Ukraine and its beautiful people stay down forever?Please join me in praying for God to pour out His blessings upon this land.
3 comments:
Oh my heart just sank when I read about your delay. I hope that this time is a big help in bonding - we found our delay really helped our daughter become quite attached to us while she was in a somewhat famliar environment. I'll be praying that the fingerprints work their way through the system really really fast. If you're staying close to downtown Kiev - there is a great grocery under Mandarin Plaza. Has lots of familiar stuff - and Ukrainian stuff. Your girls might have fun cooking in the apartment. Hope the weather is nice and you're able to hang outside some. Can't wait to read that you are really HOME!!!
Jim, I'm not religious, but I'm praying for your fast return! I also have my fingers and toes crossed for you! I'm sure everything will work out!
Oh Jim...I'm sorry about your delay. I can relate to the part about not being detail-oriented...must be genetic. Hang in there. I know you're anxious to be back in VA., but enjoy the time you have left there. I'm thinking about you all. Laura
Post a Comment